Criminal Law and Procedure - Barbri

Question 1

Whether a seizure occurs depends on what?

Answer 1

Whether, under the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would feel free to decline the officers’ requests or otherwise terminate the encounter.

Question 2

Does an officer boarding a bus constitute a seizure of the person?

Answer 2

No, so long as a reasonable person would believe that he was free to leave.

Question 3

Is a search valid under the Fourth Amendment with consent?

Answer 3

Yes, provided it is voluntary and intelligent.

Question 4

A person in custody must be informed that:

Answer 4

1. he has the right to remain silent;
2. anything he says can be used against him in court; and
3. if he cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to him if he so desires.

Question 5

What is the holding of Payton v. New York?

Answer 5

There, the Supreme Court held that, absent an emergency, a forcible, warrantless entry into a residence for the purpose of making a felony arrest is an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment as made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 6

What is battery?

Answer 6

An unlawful application of force to the person of another resulting in either bodily injury or an offensive touching

Question 7

When does mistake of fact affect criminal guilt?

Answer 7

Only if it shows that the defendant did not have the state of mind required for the crime.

Question 8

Will a conviction be overturned merely because improperly obtained evidence was admitted at trial?

Answer 8

No, not necessarily

Question 9

When may a police officer use deadly force when chasing a fleeing felon?

Answer 9

A police officer may use deadly force to apprehend a fleeing felon when the felon threatens death or serious bodily harm and deadly force is necessary to prevent his escape.

Question 10

Can a police officer use deadly force to apprehend an unarmed, nondangerous felon?

Answer 10

No!

Question 11

What is use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a battery?

Answer 11

Aggravated battery

Question 12

What is necessary for a person to use deadly force in self-defense?

Answer 12

A person must reasonably believe that he is faced with imminent death or great bodily harm.

Question 13

What is necessary for a search based on a search warrant to be constitutionally valid?

Answer 13

The warrant must be based on probable cause and must describe with reasonable precision the place to be searched and the items to be seized.

Question 14

Does a search warrant authorize the police to search persons found on the premises who are not named in the warrant?

Answer 14

No. However, if the police have probable cause to arrest a person discovered on the premises to be searched, they may conduct a warrantless search of her incident to the arrest.

Question 15

If a person is NOT named in the warrant, and circumstances justifying an arrest of that person do NOT exist, the police may search her person for the objects named in the search warrant only if…

Answer 15

They have probable cause to believe that she has the named objects on her person

Question 16

When does involuntary intoxication arise?

Answer 16

Where an intoxicating substance is taken without knowledge of its nature, under direct duress imposed by another, or pursuant to medical advice while unaware of the substance’s intoxicating effect

Question 17

Is voluntary intoxication a defense to a general intent crime, such as battery?

Answer 17

No, it is not.

Question 18

What is a heat of passion killing?

Answer 18

Provocation will reduce a killing to voluntary manslaughter if four requirements are met:

1. the provocation was a type that would arouse sudden and intense passion that would cause a reasonable person to lose self-control,
2. the defendant was in fact provoked,
3. there was not sufficient time between the provocation and the killing for the passion of a reasonable person to cool, and
4. the defendant in fact did not cool off between the provocation and the killing

Question 19

What is the imperfect self-defense doctrine?

Answer 19

A murder may be reduced to manslaughter even though the defendant unreasonably but honestly believed in the necessity of responding with deadly force.

Question 20

To be liable for either attempted murder or attempted manslaughter, the defendant…

Answer 20

Must have acted with the intent to kill and have committed an act beyond mere preparation for the offense

• The fact that it is not possible to complete the intended offense is NOT a defense to liability for attempt

Question 21

What is needed to prove attempt?

Answer 21

The government must establish that the defendant had a specific intent to commit the crime and committed an act beyond mere preparation for the offense.

Question 22

What is legal impossibility?

Answer 22

Where there is no crime on the books to cover either the defendant’s behavior or his intended behavior.

Question 23

When will ignorance or mistake as to a matter of fact serve as a defense to a crime?

Answer 23

If it shows that the defendant did not have the state of mind required for the crime.

Question 24

What is needed for a defendant to be convicted of murder?

Answer 24

She had:

1. Intent to kill;
2. Intent to inflict great bodily injury;
3. Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life; or
4. Intent to commit a felony

Question 25

Is it a defense to crime that a defendant was unaware that her acts were prohibited by the criminal law, or that the law compelled a person to do something?

Answer 25

NO!!!

Question 26

What does a conspiracy require?

Answer 26

An agreement between two or more people to accomplish an unlawful act or objective.

• The parties must intend to enter the agreement and intend to achieve the objective of the agreement.

Question 27

What is the Sixth Amendment right of autonomy over the defense of one’s case?

Answer 27

It includes the rights of “whether to plead guilty, waive the right to a jury trial, testify in one’s own behalf, and forgo an appeal.

Question 28

What must a motion for a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel show?

Answer 28

Prejudice to the defendant